Vegas, Solo

Back in my hotel room, last night of a 5-night run in Vegas. I arrived on Sunday morning, a little worn out from weeks of working too hard and Saturday's tournament-associated activities. And here it is, 5 nights later, following hours upon hours of work setting up and manning a booth for my company at Interop. Great show, all in all -- lots of terrific leads, and far better feedback and quality of attendees than any of us really expected. Well worth the effort, and at least 2-3 dozen of the folks we met over the past few days could make significant differences in the future of our company.

So, that's all nice. But I can't wait to get the hell home.

I've been in Vegas for about half of the past month, attending both Interop and Data Center World. Flew in Sunday morning for both shows, killing half of my weekend each time. Spent hours upon hours assembling our fairly expansive (though also relatively inexpensive) booth display -- a booth I'm proud to say cost us very little, but that looks like we spent tons of cash. Not a bad of piece of work.

Interop is grueling -- 3 days, 7 hours for each of the first two, and 5 on the last, plus hours of set -up and tear-down before and after. The convention hall is packed, noisy and chaotic the entire time. Each day leaves you hoarse and in pain from standing and walking the concrete floors. My body is freakin' shot.

So, yeah, I'm beat. Feeling good about my performance over the past month -- I've been given some very gratifying comments by my co-workers that I am not only performing well, but truly exceeding their expectations. After the past year, praise on my performance is appreciated. I spent a lot of time soul searching and getting my attitude back in place it needed to be. I really tried to take an attitude of "actions speak louder than words" and I've tried to not draw any attention to my efforts aside from just plugging away, and it's good to hear that folks have noticed.

But being in Vegas without Christine has been a burden.

I don't talk too much about my wife on my blog. I've always figured that choosing to share what's inside my head and how I feel in a semi-public fashion is my choice, and not hers. Our relationship is common ground, so I don't tend to talk about us unless it's regarding things that aren't terribly private in the first place. It just doesn't seem like it's my place to talk about us in a place designed to talk about me.

But god, a week in Vegas makes me miss her, and my kids too. This sucks. Vegas is so oriented around creating experiences -- with enormous buildings, amazing sights and sounds, one astonishing vision after another. And every time I've encountered a new experience here, in the few free moments I've had around the periphery of the shows, all I've wanted was to turn to my wife and say "hey, wow, wouldja look at that?"

And, well, she's not here. I've got a few friends with me, but it's not the same.

I can't wait to get home.

Now Playing: Patty Griffin, "Children Running Through"
Mood: Kinda sullen